


Ghost Of Us

by Writing_will_be_my_death



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Experimental work, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Trolls on Earth, ghost - Freeform, its over now tho, may never be finished, tags will be added if I continue this work, there was a war, undoing deaths
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 08:30:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18384755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writing_will_be_my_death/pseuds/Writing_will_be_my_death
Summary: Several hundred years ago, Dirk Strider, Roxy Lalonde, Jake Harley, Jane Egbert, John Egbert, Jade Harley, Rose Lalonde, and Dave Strider ended the war between trolls and humans. However, shortly after doing so, they all died.Now there are thousands of trolls on Earth, including you, and you’ve just been dared to spen a night in the not-haunted house of those who ended the war.You don’t believe in ghosts.





	Ghost Of Us

**Author's Note:**

> Heads up this is an experimental work that might never be finished
> 
> Hope yall enjoy it tho

You’ve never been a fan of long car rides. You’ve never been a fan of cars, honestly, they’re not what your species is supposed to travel in. (Kanaya would argue that no species is made to travel in any vehicle, but fuck her) You’re a troll made for travelling only in the shittiest of scuttlebugs. You may have only been on Alternia for like 3 hours while they got your mutant wiggler ass to the spaceport to get to Earth, but fuck it. You’re not made for cars.

“Karkat, I can smell you throwing a shit fit,” Terezi sighs from the front passenger seat.

Kanaya goes to grab your hand in comfort, but you quickly pull away from her. You don’t need comfort, and even if you did, you’d get it from your moirail, not Kanaya.

“Obviously he’s terrified,” Vriska sneers from the driver's seat. “He’s spending a night in a ‘haunted house’, and he definitely believes in ghosts.”

“Ghosts are fake as shit,” you screech, “rotting and decaying floors? Ceilings? Walls? What about a pack of wolves that wants to eat me alive? Those are all very real, Vriska!”

She only laughs at you. Terezi and Kanaya don’t respond.

You weren’t scared, not one bit. So what if you’re staying in the mansion of the people who ended the troll-human war? That was several hundred years ago. And they worked with trolls too, so even if their ghosts are lingering, (which they aren’t, you dumb fuck) they won’t kill you. Probably. And anyway, if you do last the night without calling for help, Vriska will be bowing down to you for weeks. She is the one who dared you to do this, after all. If she hadn’t sworn off concupiscent relationships, you’d swear she was black flirting with you.

The road gets bumpier, and you don’t have to look out the window to know you’re on the driveway. You feel sick and you really wish your moirail was here, but you’re not sure what he could do, the bastard’s always high off his ass. Maybe, though, maybe he’d hold you close and comfort you. You’ve done it enough for him that he should know how to do it by now.

The car stops.

“And here we are!” Vriska exclaims. “The most dangerous place on the planet!”

“Vriska!” Kanaya chides.

“You don’t need to calm her down, Maryam,” Terezi intervenes, “that’s my job. Vriska? Calm the fuck down.”

“It’s not my fault Karkat’s a wimp.”

“I’m not a grubfucking wimp!” You lie. Wait no- “It’s just an old, rickety, empty house! Not a death trap!” Kanaya doesn’t look convinced. “Now fuck off, all of you so I can get to sleep sooner.”

~ 

They do eventually fuck off, driving into the sunset, and only then do you enter the mansion. It’s… surprisingly still holding up well. Clearly, no one ever bothered to empty it out after all the occupants died, or there wouldn’t be dishes still on the coffee table. And what was probably once a sandwich or something. It’s disgusting.

You pull a sleeve over your mouth and nose. A lot of things are rotting in here, and you don’t feel like breathing in the spores. It also smells absolutely abhorrent. It wouldn’t be so creepy if there weren’t all the weird wizard statues everywhere, but hey no home is perfect.

There’s an orange flash from upstairs, but you don’t see anything else. It’s just your mind playing tricks on you, that’s all it is, that’s all it is, that’s all-

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

You scream and run at that, but as you go to run up the stairs, an orange ghost blocks you. You take little note of his appearance as you run somewhere else, through a door and down rickety stairs, and into the room with the most intact door, slamming it closed and jamming a chair against it. You take a shaky breath and realize you're in the basement. Fuck. You might actually die here.

Luckily, this room has a bed. Unluckily, it’s already occupied by a red ghost. At least this one isn’t trying to kill you, but then again he might just be doing the ghost equivalent of sleeping. You step closer to him and immediately recognize him. Dave Strider, son of Dirk Strider and 3rd youngest in the group who ended the war of Earth and Alternia, and still wearing those damn shades. He looks… weak. Tired. Hurt. He’s covered in scars, more than his portraits ever showed. It makes the guilt wash over you, your people did this to him, you know it. You want to apologize, but then again, your people would have killed you back then. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to just give some of that comfort.

You put your hand on his shoulder and try and convey every emotion you want him to feel. What you don’t expect, is for his body to solidify and no longer look like a ghost at all and for him to fall onto the bed. Which is precisely why you’ve now got your back pressed up against the wall in fear.

“... god, what the fuck,” he says, and he sounds so tired. It’s pitiful. (You’ll have to berate yourself for that comment later. You have moirail, goddamnit)

He looks up at you, and you freeze. He’s going to kill you.

“Kankri?” He asks, and you are extremely confused, what the fuck.

You can’t bring yourself to answer him.

“Dude, Kankri, is that you? Because if so how the fuck did you get younger? Also didn’t you die? Wait, shit, didn’t I die? Is this the afterlife? Man, fuck, it is, isn’t it? Aw, Bro’s gonna fuckin kill me.”

You are extremely confused. Who’s Kankri?

“What.” You manage to get out.

He sits up on his bed. “Bro, chill the fuck out. If anything, Bro’s the one you gotta worry about. Remember when he and your mom almost fuckin killed each other? Then your batshit girlfriend got involved, and mom Lalonde almost joined it. Took Nanna Egbert and you to talk them all down.”

“I understand none of what you just said,” it’s a terrifying thing for you to say, but you don’t know what else to say.

“Shit, did you forget all that stuff? Ffffffuck I hope I don’t. Kankri, bro you-”

“My name’s not Kankri. It’s Karkat, you dunderfuck,” okay, maybe calling Dave a dunderfuck was a bad idea, but you’re running on adrenaline here, okay?

“Oh, uh, yeah that’d be why you don’t remember that shit if you’re not Kankri.” There’s a moment of silence. “Do you know where we are?”

“Your mansion? Earth? New York state? I mean last I checked I was spending the night in a not-haunted-mansion, but some orange fucker tried to kill me, and then you were a red ghost but my maggot-ass had to go and touch your shoulder and now here we are!” Are those tears running down your cheeks? Probably. “Listen, you probably want to kill me, so just get that fucking over with. I’m a troll, on Earth soil no less, and you’re Dave Strider, so really there’s only one way this can end.”

He looks almost offended that you’d say that. “Bro, what? No. Is that what people say the war was like? I mean maybe Bro would kill you, but he’s probably the orange fucker who chased you down here.” He takes a breath. “So, you’re Karkat… Karkat what? You got a last name?”

“Yeah? Vantas? I don’t know where the fuck they got that from but-” 

“Yeah! Kankri was a Vantas! And you could trust that dude with anything. If you’re in any way tied to that guy, I trust you.”

“... did you just pale proposition me?”

“What.”

“Nevermind then, I’m not explaining this shit to more humans.” If they don’t know it, they aren’t actually doing it.

“Wait no I know what it means to pale proposition someone, which is not what I was doing by the way, but like, I dunno, Kankri from what I heard was basically pale towards everyone. S’why he didn’t fight. Man, you shoulda seen him, we’d get all fuckin arguing and then he’d just go ‘shhhhhhh’ and we’d all chill the fuck out. Shit was insane. Thought you were like that too, but I guess not.”

You really hope you aren’t related to that Kankri guy, “He sounds like a fucking pale prostitute.”

“Well, his girlfriend was okay with it. Think she even admired him for it, actually.”

“Obviously his matesprit wouldn’t care all that much about his pale activities. Was she a pale prostitute as well?” God, she probably was.

“Hey wait no, bro, I think you don’t understand that I knew what I was saying when I was saying ‘girlfriend’,” Dave takes a breath, and stands up. “Like, god I don’t know what you’ll think of this, literally no other troll understood it except their little group, but Kankri and Meulin weren’t matesprits, or moirails, or kismesises, they were like, a big fuckin mess of it. Before learning that humans had a word for that, they just called each other their ‘dearest’ or ‘beloved’, or the real cheesy thing ‘my other’”

You can’t help but burst out laughing. Really? Trolls who defied the quadrants? That’s a load of bullshit.

Dave looks concerned, but it’s not like you notice that. “You good, bro?” He asks.

“Yeah, I fuckin guess!” You wheeze again. “You’re hilarious, Dave, trolls defying the quadrants, what a fucking joke.”

For some benign reason, Dave looks hurt by that. That makes you stop laughing. Man, for a guy who helped end a war he sure does look hurt a lot. (There goes that jolt of pity. You shove it up to this guy being pity bait)

An awkward silence veils itself over you two, it makes the fear pile back up in you.

“So, uh,” you start, “you said the orange fucker was probably your Bro? Who’s that?”

Dave stiffens. “Technically he’s my dad, but he made me call him Bro. I dunno why.”

More awkward silence.

“Hey wait am I alive?” Dave asks.

“Uh, maybe? You might be a figment of my shit-hive imagination, created by the fear that is this god forsaken mansion. That’d be just my fucking luck.”

“Is there like, a friend you could call? Maybe get us both out of these fucking woods? Actually, is this place still surrounded by woods? Also why are you spending the night here? God, I have so many questions.”

“I’ve got friends picking me up in the morning. We’ll see if they can see you.” You sit down on Dave’s bed. Clearly, he has no intentions of killing you. “And yes, this place is still surrounded by the fucking woods.”

He sits down next to you. “Still haven’t told me why you’re here.”

You sigh. Guess there’s no getting out of that one.“I got dared by Serket to see if I could spend the night in the so-called ‘haunted mansion’ that is rumoured to contain the ghosts of you and the people who you worked with to end the war. I don’t care what happens, I’m not chickening out of this.”

“I mean, that’s fair.” His expression changes drastically, “wait, Serket like Aranea Serket?”

“Oh god no tell me you aren’t talking about Vriska’s ancestor, please, did she have the title Marquise Spinneret Mindfang? Because if so I will implode.” God no. Don’t let ancestors be real, because then Kankri probably is your ancestor and you already hate him.

“Sorry dude, but her title was indeed Marquise Spinneret Mindfang.”

You groan and fall backwards.

“Hey, here’s a fun idea,” Dave chimes, and you groan again. “You tell me the last names of your troll friends, and I’ll tell you if I knew someone with the same last name.”

“Ugh, fine.” You’ve got nothing better to do. “Makara.”

“Kurloz.That guy ordered Kankri’s and Meulin’s executions. And like, a lot of other troll’s too.”

Great to know that your moirail’s ancestor ordered your ancestor’s death.

“Maryam.”

“Porrim. Kankri’s mom.”

“Trolls don’t have moms, dingus.”

“I mean she raised him, so the fuck else should I explain her as?”

“Whatever. Pyrope.”

“Latula. Was a follower of Kankri’s, and after his death she went to kill Aranea. Aranea used mind shit and killed her instead. Funnily enough, Aranea later became a follower of Kankri’s as well.”

Man, fuck this Kankri guy.

“Leigon.”

“Meulin. As I said before, Kankri’s girlfriend.”

Well that’s awkward. Nepeta has a flush crush on you after all.

“Captor.”

“Kankri’s best friend. I think he got helmed to the Condesce’s ship after Kankri died.”

“Zahhak.”

“Horrus. Executed Kankri, and attempted to execute Meulin as well. For some reason he couldn’t, and she got away. No idea what happened to either of them after that.”

Well. You suppose that’s why Equius and Nepeta’s moirallegiance is so strong.

“Nitram.”

“Rufioh. Was such a strong follower of Kankri, after Kankri’s death that is, that he started his own revolution. We never directly worked with him, but I think we played off each other’s moves. He also was flushed with Aranea.”

You cringe. Vriska and Tavros’s weird flush/pitch relationship was always terrible.

“Ampora.”

“Cronus. He just killed a bunch of lusii for the Condesce’s lusus to eat. Also he killed Porrim.”

Damn.

“Megido.”

“Damara. Met her once, when she appeared in our ship. Never saw her again.”

“Now, I’d say Peixes, but I know her ancestor was the fucking Condesce.”

“Wait what’s the heiress doing on Earth?”

“Troll politics have improved. We’ve got a council, and fucking elections. Feferi was being pressured to run, and she was planning on it, but then she grew up and realized she’d be a terrible leader.”

“Damn.” There’s a moment of silence. You both know what his next question will be. “What made you come to Earth?”

You sigh. You hate this question. “Earth is where the council sends all the fucked up trolls.”

“Fucked up? What the hell is-” 

“You’re not my moirail, so I’m not telling you.” Nevermind that your moirail has yet to properly listen to you about this. He’s… he’s struggling. It’s not his fault.

“Fair enough.”

“So you’ve been dead for like, a few hundred years,”

“A few hundred?”

“Do you feel like you were dead? Or does it just feel like you took the longest nap in the whole fucking universe?”

“It feels like… like that last day was a dream.”

Well that’s… interesting.

“Hey, you got any food?” Dave asks you, “starting to like, actually get bodily needs back. It sucks.”

“Yeah, two granola bars and a hydration slime pack.”

You toss him one of the granola bars from your pocket.

“There used to be food in my closet. Probably coulda survived for a year off that shit, but I don’t think I’d trust any non-perishables after however many hundred years it’s been, if someone didn’t come in and clean it up.”

“No one cleaned up this fucking pigsty and whatever food had been left on the coffee table is nothing more that disgusting, festering, black mold.”

He grimaces. “Gross.”

You nod.

And then it feels like there’s nothing else to say. Dave eats the granola bar, and you stare at the popcorn ceiling. You never understood the point of popcorn ceilings, it just makes it harder to spot bugs.

Your gaze drifts over to Dave. Now that he’s not in a single hue of red, you notice even more scars. One in particular goes very faintly over his bottom lip, and you wonder how he got that one. You also kind of want to touch it.

That thought stops you in your tracks. Sure, Dave is said to have died in his mid-twenties EY (earth years), and you’re 25 EY, a matespritship wouldn’t be questioned too much. That is, aside from the fact that you’re different species, humans don’t do quadrants, and Dave doesn’t even exist as an alive person anymore. You are also in no way actually attracted to him. You force yourself to think about literally anything other than quadrants and Dave. Anything.

Oh yeah, he was in the war.

“What was the war like?” You ask. “If you’re comfortable answering, that is.”

“I mean, it was actually kinda boring if I think about now.” Dave sighs, and lays down next to you. “I mean there was the constant looming threat of death, especially with the earlier space ships, but we made friends, most of them died, we killed people, won the war, and then we died.”

“I mean, the history books always talk of your great accomplishments, destroying entire fucking fleets of imperial ships in seconds. I thought you might have some real fucking stories.”

“I mean, there was that time Damara just appeared on our ship? I dunno what actually went down bro, she just appeared with green lightning,” his hands move animatedly as he speaks. “I think she scolded us in Japanese, then left with green lightning. Also that time Kankri and his group accidentally stowed away on our ship. They brought this huge box of revolutionary shit with them. It was… it was cool.”

“Huh.”

Yeah, you’re out of things to say.

“Hey, what time is it?” Dave asks.

You pull out your cellular phone. “It’s 8:43. We’ve got an assload of time before we’re getting out of here.”

“Fuck, I’m bored as shit.”

“Well, you do have several hundred years of memes to catch up on. And assholes on the internet.”

“Hell yeah, how’s tumblr doing?” He turns on his side to face you.

“What the fuck is ‘tumblr’??”

“Nooooooooooo.”

**Author's Note:**

> Critiques are welcome


End file.
